


Carve Out A Place

by idrilhadhafang



Series: Bendemption Verse [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Beginnings of Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Kylo Ren Redemption, Love/Hate, M/M, Minor Finn/Rey (Star Wars), Past Torture, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Redeemed Ben Solo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 18:57:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19382776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Former Supreme Leader Kylo Ren returns to the Resistance — and reconciles with Poe.





	Carve Out A Place

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Rivals to Lovers
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

When Ben Solo — formerly Kylo Ren — came back to the base, Poe wished he knew how to react. Part of him wanted to hug him and express how relieved he was that Ben was finally home. Another part of him wanted to punch Kylo out. Like he should have done. Where Kylo belonged was really in a prison cell, and yet somehow, the fact that he was also Ben Solo...  
  
Why hadn’t he come back earlier? After all, Poe could have gladly accepted him back. He knew he would have, if Ben had come back before the torture, before...  
  
Poe shuddered to think about it. Before his failure. He wasn’t Rey. Rey had managed to fight him. Poe had had his memories yanked out piece by piece...  
  
“You okay?” Jessika Pava said.  
  
“It’s...complicated.” That was the best thing Poe could really say, actually.  
  
***  
  
Ben approached him, cautiously, just the next day. Poe couldn’t help but be pleased to know that he seemed hesitant — then ashamed of himself for thinking the way he did. He wasn’t a cruel person, but he hated and loved Ben so fiercely that nothing seemed to coalesce into one coherent thing.  
  
“I decided I needed to make amends,” Ben said. Even his voice was quiet. “You were a good place to start.”  
  
“You decided you needed to make amends?” Poe sighed as he spoke. “Ben...this is too big to make amends. All of what you did. You...”  
  
He trailed off. Somehow, he couldn’t finish that sentence. “You should have been killed when you could have been”? No. He didn’t really feel that way. When Rey had told him that, he could have sworn he felt the last remnants of his admiration for Luke Skywalker crumble because he tried to hurt his treasure, his Ben —  
  
Ben sighed. “If it’s all the same to you, maybe I would have been better off if Skywalker had killed me.”  
  
“No.”  
  
Ben raised an eyebrow.  
  
“What’s the point in explaining? You already know. You could rip it from my mind if you wanted to. I could have told you on the interrogation table if you really wanted to hear it. If I knew who you were.”  
  
“I want to hear you say it.” Ben said.  
  
“What’s the point? You’re probably off with Rey...”  
  
“Rey?” Ben said. “She’s with FN-2187.”  
  
“Finn.”  
  
“Whatever you want to call him. Also, Finn? A bit uncreative.” A beat. “But something you would do. You saw things in people that you never knew existed. That was one of many reasons why I cared for you.”  
  
Poe couldn’t say he expected that.  
  
“Don’t act surprised,” Ben said. "There was a lot to...admire about you.”  
  
Poe already knew what he meant. He should have been happy. Instead, he felt an overwhelming sort of grief and terror crashing down on him like a tidal wave.  
  
He left. He couldn’t bear to be around Ben, with his sad, solemn eyes and his “admiration”.  
  
***  
  
“Are you okay, Ben?”  
  
Rey, this time. Ben sat out on the balcony of the final, permanent Resistance base. Already he was wondering why he hadn’t just stayed silent, just for a change. Why he’d been so stupid as to think Poe would feel anything at all.  
  
“You love him,” Rey said.  
  
“I never stopped. When I was a boy, he was everything. Now...now I don’t think my feelings changed a day.”  
  
“You really hurt him badly, Ben.”  
  
Ben snorted. “Obviously. I’m amazed he still even feels pity for me. But...Poe was always too caring for his own good.”  
  
***  
  
Poe came to see him. Ben didn’t seek him out; he’d done enough damage already, actually. Even facing him, Ben couldn’t help but feel terribly pathetic, unworthy in his presence.  
  
“I thought about what you said,” Poe said. “I guess I was shocked is all. But I do care for you. I can’t hate you, even after all you’ve done.”  
  
“I never hated you.” Ben said.  
  
They stepped closer in that moment. Poe could swear that their lips were close, terribly close, in that moment. Ben’s lips looked so soft and full, so very expressive...  
  
The kiss was slow, lingering at first, cautious, like they were testing the waters. It was also regretful, lamenting all the time they wasted. Pining, dancing around feelings. They broke away, and Poe could swear he could still taste Ben in that moment.  
  
“Let’s not waste any more time,” Poe said. “Would you carve out a future with me?”  
  
Ben smiled faintly. “Yes,” he said. “Let’s.”


End file.
